Fuck off Clarkson. Village shops close because people who move into the village drive 20 miles to the nearest Tesco to do their shopping, and only use the village shop a couple of times a year when they've run out of milk or forgot to get bread in Tesco. They don't use the shop, the owner loses money and closes. They then moan like fuck about the shop closing down when it's their fault it's closing.
This happened in four villages local to Torytown in the space of 5 years. Those villages nearly doubled in size yet the incomers didn't use the local facilities. One of the four even lost it's pub because nobody was using it. The wankers still moaned about it closing though.
The tiny village I live in now has a shop and a pub. Both are thriving - because people use them.
The moral of this story is:
If there's a shop and/or pub when you move in, use it. Or it won't be there for long.
It might only be the Imperial Service Medal, but I've got a gong. What's Paul Dacre got?